Toshizo Nishio

Toshizo Nishio (31 October 1881-26 October 1960) was the commander-in-chief of the China Expeditionary Army from 1939 to 1941, preceding Shunroku Hata.

Biography
Toshizo Nishio was born on 31 October 1881 in Tottori Prefecture, Japan. In 1902, he graduated from the Imperial Japanese Army Academy and fought at the battle of Sandepu during the Second Russo-Japanese War in January 1905. By 1920, he was a Lieutenant-Colonel, and in 1933 he was promoted to Lieutenant-General. Nishio was made Chief-of-Staff of the Kwantung Army in 1934, and he oversaw the establishment of the Manchukuo Imperial Army as well as the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War at the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. In 1939, he became the commander-in-chief of the China Expeditionary Army as the Sino-Japanese War turned into a struggle against local insurgents, and he was defeated in the Hundred Regiments Offensive by the Chinese. In 1943, he retired after returning to Japan in 1941, and after the war's end in 1945 he was arrested by the United States, but he was later released due to the lack of evidence about war crimes.